Overview
- Three men — Maurice Hawell, 31, Andrew David, 31, and Marius Hawell, 24 — were convicted after a joint trial of sexually assaulting three women over two nights at a Newcastle Airbnb in February 2022.
- At the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal on Thursday, counsel said jurors were wrongly led to treat consensual acts and the accuseds’ state of mind as evidence of a collective plan, arguing the case took on a “sinister” cast unsupported by proof.
- The defence contends the joint trial unfairly prejudiced the men, saying evidence from the first night should not have informed verdicts on the second night, and asks the court to overturn convictions with retrials a possible outcome.
- Lawyers challenged complainant credibility by playing a short video of a teenager smiling as she left the property and pointing to an initial police statement describing “full consent,” which the witness later said reflected perceived pressure to appear agreeable.
- Maurice Hawell is serving 14 years, David 13 years, and Marius Hawell nine years; the men appeared via videolink before Justices Stephen Free, Peter Hamill and Belinda Rigg, with the hearing to continue on Friday.